Best Panang Curry (2012)

It's not exactly convenient to jump on a plane every time you get a hankering for Panang curry, so we've spent some serious hours searching out a local replacement. Enter Thai Flavor, where you can get a brimming bowl of Panang curry, creamy and caramel-colored, pungent and peppery, swimming with tender strips of pork, scallions and basil, and laced with a chile-infused heat that's checked — somewhat — by the natural sugar of coconut milk, the savory bite of garlic and the tangy nip of a freshly squeezed lime. With a side of sticky rice, it's almost as good — almost — as a curry you'd find on the banks of the Mekong in the north of Thailand.